Presentation of Aarschot and its villages

The municipality and town (Stad) of Aarschot (28,021 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 6,251 ha) is located
on the river Demer, 15 km north-east of Leuven, in the middle of a
hilly region known as Hageland. The municipality of Aarschot is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Aarschot, Gelrode, Langdorp and Rillaar.

The name of Aarschot has a legendary Roman origin. Julius Caesar's army
once stationaed on the hills of Hageland over the Demer river. Caesar
leant on the shoulder of his nephew Aurelianus. He noticed an eagle (in
Dutch, arend) looking for a prey. Caesar took his bow, aimed and shot
(in Dutch, schoot). There was a big scream and the eagle fell down.
Aurelianus hurried up downhill, swam across the river and picked up the
dead bird. The bird has been hit (afgeschoten) in the beak (bek)
and Aurelianus named the place Bekaf. He brought back the bird to
Caesar and congratulated him for his shoot. Pleased by his nephew's
good words, Caesar allowed him to build a fort called Aurelianustoren
(Aurelianus' Tower) and later Orleanstoren (Orleans' Tower, still
visible in the city). The place was named Arendschot, later Aarschot.

Aarschot developed in the XIII-XIVth century around the monumental Our
Lady church (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk), built in Demer Gothic style from
1337 to 1450. There was a Beguine convent near the church, active from 1302 to 1856. The Market Square (Grote Markt) is still surrounded by
traditional houses with the famous Flemish step gable (trapgevel).
The inhabitants of Aarschot are nicknamed kasseistampers, that is
street (lit., cobblestone) stompers. The nickname is related to the
municipal watchmen who walked nightly all over the streets in order to
protect the town from thieves and rascals. On cold nights, the watchmen
prefered to sit in the pubs and drink beer. Their wives and the
burghers of Aarschot were not happy and asked the watchmen to stomp in
the streets with their clogs and halberds, so that everybody could
state they actually did their job. To recall them, the Gilde van de
Kasseistampers was founded in 1965 and is today one of the most famous
carnival associations of Belgium.

Dorenberg was long time ago bugged by the nasty heibussen. They were
vivid little men with short legs, curly hair and deep black eyes. They
lived in ever deeper holes made in the ferruginous sandstone hills of
Hageland. The heibussen had a lazy life: they did not work and lived
by theft and plunder. They scoured the neighborhood and picked up what
they needed. They really enjoyed setting fire to stables, hay and
harvests. Those who were too old to join the incursions were buried
alive. The villagers once decided to get rid of them, filled the
entrance of their holes with straw and set up the fire. When the
heibussen escaped, the angry villagers ran after them with clubs,
flails, scythes and pitchforks. The heibussen managed to swim across
the Demer and moved to Rillaar, where they hid in the moor. What
happened next to them is not known.
Langdorp also had its nasty little men, the laplanders, who always
wanted to borrow kitchen ustensils from the farmers. When the farmer
refused, he had a bloody day. When the laplanders were given what they
had required, work was made easy. It is said that the laplanders
settled in Langdorp during the German wars and were expelled by the
French.

Wolfsdonk had a famous inhabitant, Louis Verheyden (1891-1975),
immortalized by the writer Ernest Claes (1885-1968) as "Witte van
Zichem". After the death of his parents, young Louis was housed by his
aunt Melanie and her husband, the village smith. They also owned a pub,
where Louis drank more beer than milk. Louis moved to Liège, where he worked in the coal mines, and came back home in the beginning of the
First World War. Lacking money, he smuggled butter with her beloved
Suska. He made a lot of money until the Germans arrested him and jailed
him for ten days. He married Suska in 1919 and they moved to Brussels
where they worked as gardener and cook, respectively. Suska did not
enjoy the urban life and they came back to Wolfsdonk. They were hired
by the railway company and worked for twelve years in a switch factory.
Louis worked for the last ten years of his active life in a bulding
site in Leuven. Verheyden was not happy with Claes: he believed that
the writer should have bought him much more beers than he did with the
money he had made with his book.

Municipal flag of Aarschot

The municipal flag of Aarschot is white with a blue fleur-de-lis.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the
flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 23 November 1981,
confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 5 Marsh 1985 and published in
the Belgian official gazette on 8 July 1986.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms.

According to Servais, the municipal arms of Aarschot were granted by (Dutch) Royal Decree on 15 September 1819 and confirmed by (Belgian) Royal Decree on 30 July 1841. The new municipality of Aarschot reused the arms of the former municipality after the fusion in 1976.
In the XIIth century, the Counts of Aarschot bore "Argent three
fleurs-de-lis ...". The town later kept on its arms only one
fleur-de-lis. The municipal arms are supported by an
eagle, which is not Imperial but related to the legendary origin of the
city reported above.
The Gelre Armorial shows "Argent three fleurs de lis couped sable" for
Rasse of Rivière (Aerschot), Lord of Linter (De H. van Lynteren, #837, folio 73v), and "Gules three fleurs de lis couped or" for Jean of Aerschot, Lord of Schoonhoven (Jan van Scoonhoven, #873, folio 74v).
The Lalaing Armorial shows "Argent three fleurs de lis couped sable"
for Rivière (House of Aerschot) (Rivier, #42, folio 73v) and "Gules
three fleurs de lis couped or" for Schoonhoven (Aerschot)
(Scoonhoven, #123, folio 78r).